text:
Dairy Milk Bunch
Every celebration calls for something sweet, sweeten the moment with this beautiful one sided dairy milk chocolate bouquet. Gift it today!
Happy Gifting…
Includes :
- 10 Dairy Milk chocolates
- Red Paper Bunch
- Purple Paper Chocolate Wrap
- Silver Bow
Flowers : Flowers bouquet, bunches and arrangements are delivered fresh and on the same day from our local store in your city. For longer freshness of flowers slightly cut the flowers stems' at the bottom and put them inside water.
Cake : "Regular Cakes" are delivered on the same day from one of the best bakery in your city. We recommend you to keep the cake inside refrigerator for 5-10 mins as soon as it is arrived, to avoid melting of icing on the cake. Before serving, let the cake come to the room temperature for the best experience and taste.
Note : Regular Cake images are indicative, actual cake design may vary as every chef has different style of baking the cake.
To know more, Click Here.
Earliest Delivery: Today
There are no reviews yet.
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Grandal could see time as DH this series
CLEVELAND -- In previous seasons, when the Padres have traveled to an American League city, manager Bud Black has often used the designated hitter spot to get a position player off his feet defensively for a few days during an Interleague series.
A year ago, Carlos Quentin got 25 at-bats as a designated hitter in six Interleague games. He got 21 at-bats in five Interleague games the previous season.
But this season is different, as the Padres, just six games into the regular season, find themselves in an AL ballpark for three games this week against the Indians.
"I think this is the earliest Interleague series we've ever played," Black said.
The Padres decided to give Yasmani Grandal the start at designated hitter Monday, though that game was postponed by rain.
The club has three catchers on the 25-man roster and Grandal has already started three times with Rene Rivera getting two starts. Monday's game would have been the second start behind the plate for Nick Hundley.
Grandal, coming back from major surgery on his right knee last August, isn't to the point where he can catch nine innings in consecutive days. This allows the team to keep his bat in the lineup, as he has five walks and three hits in nine at-bats.
How will Black proceed with the designated hitter Tuesday and in Wednesday's doubleheader?
"I guess you'll know when we post the lineup," he said, smiling.


text:
Tom "Squarepusher" Jenkinson makes manic, schizoid, experimental drum'n'bass with a heavy progressive jazz influence and a lean toward pushing the clichés of the genre out the proverbial window. Rising from near-total obscurity to drum'n'bass cause célèbre in the space of a couple of months, Jenkinson released only a pair of EPs and a DJ Food remix for the latter's Refried Food series before securing EP and LP release plans with three different labels. His first full-length work, Feed Me Weird Things (on Richard "Aphex Twin" James' Rephlex label), was a dizzying, quixotic blend of super-fast jungle breaks with Aphex-style synth textures, goofy, offbeat melodies, and instrumental arrangements (he samples his own playing for his tracks) that vaguely recall jazz fusion pioneers such as Mahavishnu Orchestra and Weather Report. A skilled bassist and multi-instrumentalist, Jenkinson's fretless accompaniment is a staple of his music and one of the more obvious affiliations with jazz (although his formal arrangements are often as jazz-derived as his playing).
Jenkinson grew up listening to jazz and dub greats like Miles Davis, Augustus Pablo, Charlie Parker, and Art Blakey. The son of a jazz drummer, Jenkinson followed in his father's footsteps, playing bass and drums in high school. Introduced to electronic music through experimental electro-techno artists such as LFO and Carl Craig, Jenkinson soon began assembling his disparate influences into amalgams of breakbeat techno and post-bop avant-garde and progressive jazz. Claiming a closer affinity with jazz than jungle (although he draws from both equally in his music), Jenkinson's EPs as Squarepusher and the Duke of Harringay (Jenkinson moved to Harringay from his Chelmsford birthplace) were initially disregarded as misplaced perversions of jungle's more obvious compositional principles, but found ready audiences in fans of post-acid house experimental listening music. He inked a deal with Warp in 1995, releasing the Port Rhombus EP and three others through a variety of different labels. The aforementioned full-length Feed Me Weird Things appeared in 1996, followed a year later by Hard Normal Daddy.
Critical acclaim for Jenkinson's work peaked with 1998's Music Is Rotted One Note, for which he became a one-man fusion group -- multi-tracking himself playing drums, bass, and keyboards. The following year, he released two EPs (Budakhan Mindphone, Maximum Priest) and another full LP, Selection Sixteen. Go Plastic appeared in summer 2001, featuring the closest thing to a hit Squarepusher had ever seen with the single "My Red Hot Car." Subsequent releases such as 2003's Do You Know Squarepusher and 2004's Ultravisitor found him refining his fusion of composition, programming, and musicianship, characteristics that were also heard on 2006's Hello Everything and 2008's Just a Souvenir. After a record of solo bass (titled Solo Electric Bass, Vol. 1), he unveiled his next project, a masked foursome named Shobaleader One that released a 2010 collaboration album (Shobaleader One: D'demonstrator) consisting of throwback electronic pop with an R&B edge and synthesized vocals, not unlike Daft Punk. In 2012, Jenkinson returned with the coldly symphonic Ufabulum, adding an apocalyptic soundtrack feel to his already dense programming. In 2013, he worked with a team of Japanese roboticists on an ambitious project called Z-Machines, the creation of robots that could play music far beyond the capabilities of even the most skilled human instrumentalists. Jenkinson aided the robotics team in the composition of music for these robots to play, set to life by a 22-armed drumming robot and a guitar-playing robot with the equivalent of 78 fingers. The next year Warp Records released the Music for Robots EP, a five-song recording of the results of the experiment. ~ Sean Cooper & John Bush, Rovi
This is the first time you have logged in. Please select your city below:


text:
Heavy duty bumper
Demanding long haul routes? Challenging construction sites? Fearsome logging tracks? The heavy duty bumper is designed for the world's toughest terrain. Making the Volvo FH one of the most versatile trucks on the road.
Robust design
Similar to the Volvo FMX's bumper, the heavy duty bumper is made of 3 mm high-grade steel. It's also partly covered by a thick polypropylene coating which makes it less liable to scratches. Super strong and robustly designed, it'll protect your truck from scratches, dents and broken headlights on any terrain.
Increase your uptime
The bumper is tough. But if you hit it so hard that it needs servicing, it's an easy job to do. Constructed in three parts, with easily accessible screws, you can replace any damaged parts yourself – saving you a trip to the workshop and boosting your uptime.
Heavy duty entry step
Combine the heavy-duty bumper with a heavy duty entry step. Thanks to its flexible design, the foldable step can take minor bumps in all directions without breaking. The heavy-duty entry step is available for the X-High chassis.


text:
Five new reasons acquirers are buying
At BCMS we speak with thousands of potential acquirers each year, across multiple sectors from food to healthcare and heavy industry. Interestingly, the key strategic motives for acquisition are often similar, regardless of sector. These motives are rooted potential for growth, and include access to new geographical territories, a new customer base, key Intellectual Property, or leading-edge products or services.
2016, however, has been remarkable for several new trends affecting the global deal-making market. Here are our top five.
Digital disruption
More than 1000 technology companies changed hands in the three months to June 2016 – and 27% were acquired by non-tech buyers, according to this report.
Manufacturers are buying smart component businesses, and business consultants are adding software-as-a-service (SaaS) to broaden their offer.
Shareholder pressure
Activist investors are setting the M&A agenda – by demanding that CEOs keep acquiring growing companies and selling off low-margin divisions. Research by Harvard estimates that new overseas fund managers are building large minority stakes in a growing number of UK companies, and are now pushing CEOs of listed companies to bolster margins with high growth acquisitions.
Emerging consolidation
Consolidation has long been a key reason for much acquisition activity, but several industries are undergoing new cycles of consolidation this year. The insurance sector is adjusting its exposure to meet a new EU directive. After a few false dawns, consolidation in the gambling industry is finally underway, with Ladbroke's buying Coral, and amalgamation among leading online players such as 888.com. Elsewhere, saturated tech segments are also consolidating for the first time, as seen in compliance software and e-learning markets.
Abandoned mega-deals
Competition regulators in the US and EU are increasingly intervening to block a wide array of mega-deal mergers. This has led to a rise in abandoned deals – such as Pfizer and Allergan in April, and M&A strategies have had to be redrawn, with a renewed focus on big players buying smaller bolt-on acquisitions.
Changing private equity
The UK private equity market has been more subdued in 2016, and appears to be shifting focus away from its traditional safe havens of technology and consumer brands, to invest in traditional businesses. This year, we have seen major PE funds investing in BCMS clients in construction, waste, manufacturing and food.
Against a backdrop of high company valuations and a challenging investment environment, PE funds are also doing more co-investment deals with other PE providers. On average, PE-backed companies in the UK grew up to 9% faster than non-PE backed firms.
As can be seen, a wide range of factors are at play in the M&A market at any one time. The investment climate, regulatory attitudes, divergence, convergence and boardroom dynamics are informing market appetites enough to outweigh the increased uncertainty brought about by Brexit or a Trump presidency.


text:
|Price Per Unit
|Price (US $)
|Add to Cart
|Add to Cart
I have been dealing with them for a couple of years now and never had any sort of confrontation about anything. They very well ...
Preston, US
I got my packages always on time, though, there have been times during COVID-19 when I got afraid about my meds, if I would receive them ...
Carlos, USA
I used to spend a lot on my medications, a major portion of my paycheck used to go towards the medication bills, and even after spending ...
Mark, USA
Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, they have been working enthusiastically to fulfill the needs of their customers. Although there was a ...
Lisa, USA
I have been associated with them for years, and I have always had a great experience! Would recommend them to all in search of high ...
Anna, usa
Without a doubt, Reliable Canadian Pharmacy has been one of the best websites for medications. They offer a great variety of medicines ...
Jaliscia, usa
Clopidogrel 300 mg PillView Detail Add to Cart
Bisoprolol (5mg) PillView Detail Add to Cart
Repaglinide 0.5 mg TabletsView Detail Add to Cart
estradiol oral 2mg tabletView Detail Add to Cart


text:
Starting Sage & Lavender Indoors – Gary Pilarchik
Do both! Seeds and transplants! Here's why and when!
If you are late planting seeds, it's off to the nursery for transplants!
Some plants just don't come in six packs, like radish. Seeds it is.
Watching seeds sprout and seedlings unfurl and grow is divine! It's a miracle! Many have just never done it and find, to their delight, how easy and inspiring it is! Seeds can be started indoors at home or right where you want them, in the garden!
- The beauty of seeds is you can select plants your nursery doesn't carry!
- You can start them indoors 6 weeks earlier than you can plant seeds in the ground!
- If you planted it right in the ground, you have saved yourself the step of transplanting!
- Some plants just don't like to be transplanted! Annuals, plants with large seeds, plants that require weathering, plants with fragile root systems and root crops – beets, carrots. Like snapdragons, nasturtiums, spinach, and peas.
- Root crops like carrots need depth. If their tap root comes in contact with the bottom of a container it will fork or bend. Better to sow directly in your soil.
- Plants that are quick to germinate, get up and get strong, are great to start from seed, like radishes, beans, peas, beets, and turnips.
- If you are growing a lot or in succession, seeds are the most inexpensive way to grow your garden. Save seeds from your best veggies, flowers and herbs each year and you won't need to buy any more! Plus they will be adapted to you and your soil!
- Be prepared to thin your seedlings, which means pulling out a few plants so your crop is spaced apart enough. Beet seedlings need 2-4 inches apart, but the seed grows in fours, so each plant needs room to make a normal-sized beet. Crowded plants compete for light, water, and nutrients. Also, lack of airflow will encourage diseases. The pro here is those young tender seedlings are perfect in salads!
- Seedlings thinned from over-crowded areas may be moved to fill in bare spots.
- Growing seeds for transplants indoors are protected from the elements and garden pests while you can also control soil, moisture, fertility and heat.
- You can select only the strongest seedlings to transplant.
- All your plants are up when you plant them – no germination failures, empty spaces, no wondering, no replanting necessary, no lost time.
- If you complete the circle by continually keeping the seeds from open-pollinated plants in your garden, you'll create a vegetable strain (AKA: landrace) that thrives in your particular environment.
- There is well deserved pride in growing your veggies from seed-to-plate!
Veggie Seeds Soil Planting Temps!
Seed Soaking/Presprouting Tips & Ideas!
Soil for Seed Starting! DIY, Pre-made
- Seed germination in the ground isn't guaranteed. You wait to find out and if it doesn't start, you lose time, possibly it gets beyond the planting window and it was not a plant your nursery carries. Starting a few seeds indoors as backup is wise.
- The number of days to germinate in your garden could be very different than those given on a seed packet due to soil conditions, weather, whereas with a transplant, there's no guessing.
- Extra tender care and time is needed as seedlings germinate and get going. Transplants are sure, up and ready! All you have to do is go get them…
- Seedlings need to be weeded so they aren't overgrown.
- Sometimes seedlings need protection from birds, pests – especially slugs, and freezes or hot sun.
- Right watering must be done, you can't miss.
- Tomatoes like moving air to development well, if starting indoors you may need a fan.
- Yes, there is a learning curve with seeds. Research is important so you can choose the best for your climate, soil and light conditions, the season – first and last frosts.
- You'll need a seed germinating space. Regular shop lights are fine for germinating seeds, but there usually is an initial investment of some kind, like maybe that fan!
Super healthy homegrown Pepper seedlings at New Life on a Homestead
Oh it's so much fun to select transplants! It gives you the option of trying new plants, varieties, sometimes getting another one if one has failed. While you are shopping, there are marvelous other gardening tools, amendments, flowers you can get! Who knows what you will come back with?! And you can plant in the garden the same day!
From the Nursery Pros:
- Nursery transplants take a whole lot less time! You just go get them.
- If you don't have a place to grow seeds, transplants from the nursery are terrific. You can ask, they may be able to get special varieties you would like.
- Some plants are just plum hard to get started from seed. A transplant is perfect, thanks.
- Starts are especially perfect for beginning gardeners who would like to skip the part that includes vulnerable, infant plants. Starting and babying tiny plants may not be your cup of tea either! Let the experts do it!
- With transplants the seed is germinated, it's showing vigor and chances for a successful garden are more likely from the outset. This is particularly important when you have a limited number of warm summer days or you are planting late!
- On average, transplants give you a SIX WEEKS jump start on the season, because they will mature sooner and give you an earlier harvest. Transplants give higher early yields, and, one gardener says, in the case of watermelons, give larger fruits.
- Transplants can give you a great boost with succession planting, which means planting the same thing several times per season to ensure continuous harvest. For great results with lettuce, for example, you can start your first succession via transplants, and then follow every 2-3 weeks with lettuce seeds sown directly into your garden.
- If your seeds have failed, you can get transplants at the nursery!
- Transplants can be more resistant to insect pests, because they are more mature and stronger when you first put them into your garden. Many insect pests, like slugs, just love teeny tiny seedlings. Put down Sluggo or something like it even before you transplant, but definitely at the same time you install your plants. An overnight slug fest can remove an entire plant!
- Planting transplants gives you immediate satisfaction. Who doesn't love starting their garden and seeing all those baby plants?
- Buying transplants can be more cost effective, and provides you with a great way to support local farmers and garden centers.
- Conscientious local nurseries carry starts that are grown specifically for your area. So you don't have to worry about planting a variety that doesn't do well in your zone. Box stores are less likely to be region specific.
- Having strong, young plants gives you some leeway per correct planting times. Transplants can be put in the ground earlier than seeds can be planted! If you miss a planting window, go get transplants from the nursery and you are back on time!
From Your Nursery at Home Pros:
- Start 6 weeks before safe outdoor soil planting temps. Head start!
- Sow seeds indoors during cool weather, harden off, then move outdoors, when weather warms up, not before.
- Since the seedbed produces many more plants than needed, choose only the very best plants!
- Reduce loss. The disease and pest free, precise environment of indoor planting is more protected than seeds germinated and seedling growth in the ground.
- You can plant exactly as many as you need.
- You know they are organic all the way, seed and soil, feeds.
Importantly, if you are growing your own transplants indoors, harden them off well. Expose them to slightly cooler temps and some dryer conditions before putting them out. Most transplants have been raised in warm, favorable temperatures, spoiled with plenty of water. They may suffer transplant shock from suddenly changing those conditions. They may wilt or even die with cooler night temperatures, lots of temperature fluctuation, or drier conditions.
How to Transplant for Super Successful Returns!
- Starts from the nursery are the most expensive way to plant a garden. Prices can vary drastically depending on where you shop.
- There is a carbon footprint. Yes, most do use plastic containers and you usually drive to the nursery.
- Your variety choices are limited to the plants the nursery or garden center selects from their grower, which may be local or not. Box stores often carry out of season veggies for your locality.
- You have to buy more than you need, they only come in four or six packs.
- The nursery runs out or doesn't have as many as you need or the plants aren't in good condition.
- Consider that transplants can introduce weeds, pests and diseases into your garden. Most producers of transplants are very careful about this, especially with respect to diseases, but it is not uncommon to get a little grass or other weed seed into your transplant pack now and then. Carefully check for pests, the undersides of leaves.
- Transplants you start yourself are time and labor intensive, and sometimes the whole batch fails. For more assurance, plant backup seeds every few days. If you end up with too many, share them with other gardeners who will be so grateful!
Veggies easy to direct seed – that's right in the ground!
- Beans
- Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, Cauliflower, Collards, Kale, Kohlrabi
- Chard
- Corn
- Cucumbers
- Leeks
- Lettuce
- Melons, Watermelon
- Okra
- Peas
- Root crops – beets, carrots, garlic, onion, radish, turnips
- Spinach
- Squashes
- Sunflowers
- Tomato grows rampantly from seed!
- Zucchini
Veggies to transplant or start in trays or get at the nursery!
- Celery
- Eggplant
- Peppers
- Tomatoes are fun to get at the nursery because there are often so many exotic varieties! In Santa Barbara, that nursery is La Sumida!
Know that different gardeners do better with one plant than another! Their peppers always do well, they never get eggplant! Their onions never get big, but they get super big juicy celery stalks!
Garden Magic! Self-sowers & Volunteers
I have a soft spot for volunteers! I love the variety, surprises the birds bring already fertilized and ready to grow! Plants that self seed are a gift! They know where to grow and come up at the perfect time. Let your plants live out their life cycle, make flowers for the bees, butterflies and beneficial insects, seeds for the birds, before cleaning up. Leave a few of your very best tomatoes and cucumbers to decompose in the garden. Let sunflowers, calendula, violas and other annuals drop their seeds and make pretty next year. These plants will have natural vigor. Transplant them to your convenience if you must, but let them grow as they naturally are whenever possible.
Experienced gardeners do a little seed planting in the ground, some grow their own transplants indoors, and at times buy transplants for various reasons! Maybe the nursery got a new plant and you gotta try it!
See the entire February Newsletter! (Sign up for it if you like!)
February – Final Plans, Preps, 1st Spring Plantings!
Calendula ~ Edible, Medicinal, Good for Your Garden, Easy to Grow!
January, February Seeds or Transplants, Pros & Cons
Other Community Gardens – Virginia Avenue Community Garden, Washington DC
Events! CEC EARTH DAY Celebration 2017!
The Green Bean Connection started as correspondence for SoCal Santa Barbara CA USA Pilgrim Terrace Community Garden. All three of Santa Barbara's community gardens are very coastal. During late spring/summer we are often in a fog belt/marine layer most years, locally referred to as the May grays, June glooms and August fogusts. Keep that in mind compared to the microclimate niche where your veggie garden is. Bless you for being such a wonderful Earth Steward!
Love your Mother! Plant bird & bee food! Think grey water! Grow organic!


text:
By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer Marcia Dunn, Ap Aerospace Writer
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Spacewalking astronauts completed repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope on Monday, leaving it more powerful than ever and able to peer even deeper into the cosmos — almost to the brink of creation. The last humans to lay hands on Hubble outfitted the observatory with another set of fresh batteries, a new sensor for precise pointing and protective covers.
That equipment, along with other improvements made over the last five days, should allow the telescope to provide dazzling views of the universe for another five to 10 years.
"This is a very important moment in human history," Hubble senior project scientist David Leckrone said in Houston. "We will rewrite the textbooks at least one more time."
It was the fifth and final spacewalk for the shuttle Atlantis crew, and the final visit by astronauts ever to Hubble.
It was the fifth and final spacewalk for the shuttle Atlantis crew, and the final visit by astronauts ever to Hubble.
As the spacewalk drew to a close, Hubble's chief mechanic, John Grunsfeld, accidentally bumped one of the telescope's antennas and knocked off its cap with his backpack.
"Oh, I feel terrible," he groaned.
Mission Control quickly assured the astronauts the antenna was fine.
"Sorry, Mr. Hubble, have a good voyage," Grunsfeld said after he covered up the tip.
"Consider it a goodbye kiss, John," one of his crewmates said.
The astronauts planned to set Hubble free from the shutte's cargo bay on Tuesday.
During this emotional last house call, astronauts gave Hubble two state-of-the-art science instruments and fixed two others.
The $220 million worth of new instruments should allow the telescope to gaze farther back into time — within 500 million or 600 million years of the first moments of the universe.
Prior to the repairs, Hubble was able to look back to within 800 million years.
Hubble program manager Preston Burch acknowledged that the telescope still has some original parts, but noted "in many ways it is a brand-new observatory and far, far more capable than the Hubble of 1990."
Mission Control congratulated the astronauts for successfully completing "electronic brain surgery" Monday during a spacewalk that lasted more than seven hours.
In addition to the batteries and the sensor, Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel installed steel foil sheets to protect against radiation and the extreme temperature changes of space.
It was messy work. Pieces of the old insulation broke off and floated harmlessly away.
"I was hoping to retrieve those for memories," said Grunsfeld, an astrophysicist who has spent more time working on the orbiting Hubble than anyone. He's visited Hubble twice before, and plans to use the telescope once he's back on Earth to study the moon.
As he applied the new insulation with a roller, a voice from space sang "rollin', rollin', rollin'" to the theme song from the TV show "Rawhide."
But the total 37 hours of spacewalks were by no means routine. The astronauts had some trouble removing an old camera and had to install a refurbished pair of gyroscopes after a brand-new set refused to go in.
Sunday's spacewalk was particularly exasperating: a stuck bolt almost prevented astronauts from fixing a burned-out science instrument. Brute force saved the day.
During the mission, the four spacewalkers, two per team, managed to fix two science instruments that had broken down years ago and were never meant to be tinkered with in orbit.
They also replaced a faltering science data-handling device and installed a docking ring so a robotic craft can latch on and steer the telescope into the Pacific sometime in the early 2020s.
"We pulled it off," an ecstatic Feustel said after the final spacewalk.
All told, this visit to Hubble cost more than $1 billion.
"We have a saying ... 'Science never sleeps,' and our work is just beginning,'" said Jon Morse, NASA's director of astrophysics. "And we can't wait to get out there and use Hubble for its intended purposes."
NASA hopes to crank Hubble back up by summer's end, following extensive testing of its new parts.
But already scientists have gotten more than they expected out of Hubble when it was launched in 1990 with a projected lifetime of 15 years.
Once its blurred vision was corrected in 1993 and NASA's reputation was restored, the telescope began churning out breathtaking images: among other things, stars in the throes of birth and death.
Back at the launch site, NASA maintained its vigil in case another shuttle needed to rush to the rescue. Atlantis escaped serious launch damage a week ago, but was susceptible to all the space junk in Hubble's 350-mile-high orbit. The astronauts will perform one last survey of their ship after releasing the telescope.
NASA took unprecedented steps to have Endeavour on the pad as a rescue ship, because the Atlantis astronauts have nowhere to seek shelter if they cannot return to Earth because of shuttle damage. The space station is in another, unreachable orbit.
The increased risk prompted NASA to cancel the mission five years ago in the wake of the Columbia accident. It was reinstated two years later.
With NASA's three remaining space shuttles set for retirement next year, there will no way for astronauts to return to Hubble. The new spacecraft under development will be much smaller and less of a workhorse than the shuttle, and lack a big robot arm for grabbing the telescope.
Hubble's replacement, the James Webb Space Telescope, will be launched in 2014 by an unmanned rocket and placed in an orbit inaccessible to astronauts.
NASA officials said the farewell to Hubble would be bittersweet.
"We all recognize we've gotten almost 20 years of service out of it. And it will be cranking along there for another five years," said Burch, the program manager. "Maybe it is time to move on."
On the Net:
NASA: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_sc/storytext/us_shuttle_hubble/32061094/SIG=11qr00th7/*http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html


text:
Historically, comics fans aren't the easiest bunch to buy for. Just ask my parents; when I was growing up they had to search high and low for a comics related gift, you couldn't just find something at your local bookstore. They often had to brave the rare local comic shop filled with weird looking teenagers, or at worst a secondhand book exchange that sold comics right next to skin mags (it was the late 80's after all).
Two decades later, things are a little different now. Comics for better or worse, have become so ingrained in our popular culture they have gone from a marginal interest to mainstream acceptance: the basis of blockbuster movies, high rating TV shows and major merchandising empires. Comics related gifts are now everywhere, from hardcover collections at bookstores to t-shirts, fridge magnets and everything in between.
With Christmas a only a week away, I thought I'd take a look at some of the latest comics related gifts on the market for this Xmas season.
Above: A copy of White Cloud Worlds, edited by Paul Tobin.
Recently published by HarperCollins, this anthology edited by artist Paul Tobin contains artwork from 27 of New Zealand's best fantasy talents. From cartoonists Ben Stenbeck and Simon Morse, through to Weta concept artists Greg Broadmore, Warren Mahy and many more. It's a beautifully designed package, certainly one of the best local art books of the year. A great gift for the young aspiring artist in the family, and certainly a book worth supporting, as this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to New Zealand's legion of talented illustrators. Lets hope this is the first of many volumes to come. White Cloud Worlds retails for around $79.99NZ, and it's also available from selected specialty stores in a limited edition hardcover with a signed artist print for $150NZ. For more information check out the book's official website HERE.
Above: The Art of District 9, by Daniel Falconer.
Taking a firm foot-hold in the fantasy art market this year, HarperCollins have also teamed up with Weta Workshop to produce The Art of District 9, based on the concept artwork produced for Neill Blomkamp's 2009 sleeper-hit movie. Veteran Weta artist/designer Daniel Falconer (yes, that's one cool-ass last name) does the writing chores here, guiding us through the film's creative development. It's an engrossing tour through the film's various art departments, from initial sketches to finished concept art. In many ways it gives you a much greater appreciation for the film's carefully crafted and considered world, details of which flash by all to quickly on screen. One of the highlights would have to be Greg Broadmore's lead concept designs for the Mech Combat Suits. A true achievement of what must have been a dream job finally bringing to life concepts he had been drawing on only eight years before, in one of his earliest local comics Killer Robots Will Smash The World! The Art of District 9 retails for $69.99NZ, and you can find out more about this book over at the Weta Workshop website HERE.
Above: One of my personal favourites from The DC Comics 75th Anniversary Poster Book.
To celebrate 75 years of publishing, DC Comics is putting there best foot forward by coming up with this great concept for a company retrospective: reproductions of 100 classic comics covers ready-to-frame A3 prints. The covers are accompanied by commentary from Robert Schnakenberg, but who cares about that, 'cause we're really just here for the artwork right?
Speaking of which, full credit to DC for digging through their vault for the interesting mix of covers on offer here; ranging from the superhero classics (Action #1, Detective #27, natch!), right through to the odd-ball 50s Sci-Fi adventures, and the often ironic but visually slick romance comics covers. DC also pokes some fun at itself by including some of the more bizarre covers from it's back catalogue: the company's obsession with putting gorillas on covers to spike sales in the 60s, Batman's ill-conceived rainbow costume, and Superboy getting bent over a school Principal's knee for a good 'o spanking(!).
The book isn't without some minor drawbacks however; the selection of some of the more recent covers are less than classic, and do they really have to include all the sales and barcode information? (surely in this digital age there were 'clean' files of the artwork available, right?). Clearly some of the older covers were scanned from original copies of the comics, but the reproduction isn't always spotless and better quality printing and paper stock would have gone a long way to improving the overall production. That said, at just under $1 a page for an A3 print it's certainly value for money and a great gift for the die-hard DC fan. The DC Comics 75th Anniversary Poster Book is published by Quirk Books and retails for around $98.99NZ.
Above: a DC Superhero Crisis blows up in my face (pop-up style!).
For the younger DC fan, you can't really go past DC Super Heroes: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book by Matthew Reinhart. There have been a rash of comics related Pop-Up books in recent years, all of varying quality, but this is easily the most impressive. It's close to nine inches thick, with only six spreads, but is jam-packed with every possible pop-up trick the author can throw at it (hell, there are actually several pop-ups WITHIN pop-ups!). It covers the icons: Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman (complete with light-up Bat Signal!), as well as the JLA, the Green Lantern Corp and a fun homage to Jack Kirby's New Gods, featuring Darksaid's stony mug starring out at you. As you can see from the picture above it's pretty immaculate and fairly delicate, so it's not exactly for grabby under five crowd to read themselves, but it should make a killer bed-time story! DC Super Heroes: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book is published by Little Brown and costs around $39.99NZ.
Above: Tintin by Hergé, a tried and true classic.
The upcoming film production between our own Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg is still a year away, but now's as good a time as any to revisit these classics. They are all engrossing reads, but if you're curious about what to brush up on first, the film is said to be a combination of the storylines from The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure. Tintin by Hergé is available in all good bookstores in paperback for around $24.99NZ.
Above: Me and Hicksville by Dylan Horrocks.
Now if you don't already own a copy of Dylan Horrocks' Hicksville, I strongly urge you do your patriotic duty this holiday season and buy yourself and all your friends a copy! It was finally reprinted this year locally by Victoria University Press, so you have absolutely no excuses. Remember, supporting local graphic novels will go a long way to helping establish a market for them here and making it possible for NZ cartoonist to do what they love and make a modest living from it. So spread the holiday cheer! Hicksville retails for $38.00NZ. And of coarse check out Dylan's website HERE for his latest news, views and comics!
So this will probably be my last post for the year; thanks to everyone who came out the other night for a drink in Auckland, it sounds like next year is shaping up to be water-shed year in local comics publishing, so be sure to check in next year for more exclusive coverage.
I'd like to also think everyone who's supported this site with links and visits this year, it's much appreciated. I apologise for disappointing some of my loyal readers with the lack of stories the last few months, I'm busy day-jobbing towards the end of the year so unfortunately it cuts into my writing and free time. But I have plenty of new stories and reviews in the works for 2011, so I'll see you back here in the second week of January with some brand new material.
In the meantime, Marry Xmas everyone and have a great holiday season!
-AK! (off to read Jack Kirby's Forth World Omnibus' at Ohope beach).
Above: Yes, that's Ohope beach, but no I wouldn't take an Omnibus into the water! (ironically, it's actually a copy of Kirby's Super Powers #1).


text:
Look Who Showed Up To The Party
Gasol decided to stop holding the ball (LeBron – take note) and was decisive with the ball in the post and Odom actually played well. They are co-winners of the stat line of the night ; Gasol had 14 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 blocks and 2 steals and Odom had 19 points, 14 boards, 3 assists and 4 blocks.
Quick stat run down:
- The Lakers out-blocked the Nuggets 12-5.
- J.R. Smith shot 3-for-13 from the field and 1-for-10 from three. He could be so much better.
- Both teams shot poorly from distance. The Lakers were 3-for-16 for 18.8 percent and Denver shot 7-for-24 for 29.2 percent.
- Derek Fischer had two more shots then Chauncey Billups (9-7). WHAT?!
This game continued to prove the Lakers can turn it on and off when they feel the need and that Sasha Vujacic will not be back with the Lakers. Vujacic "highlight of the night" was his reaction to an Odom and-one. The best thing he did all night.
Kobe's non-Kobe night always demonstrates a trend (LeBron – take note), when the superstar scores 45, it is because he has to. Jordan's teams rarely won in double figures when he scored 40 or more points. The best games came when Jordan was finding teammates and they were hitting shots (not to the rest of the Cavs).
The LeBrons: Get to Work
The locker before the start of game 5 is going to as tension filled as the season premiere of Jon and Kate Plus Eight.
What is going with the offense in Cleavland? Watching the Cavs in the fourth quarter is painful and no point comes easily. I am not sure what Mike Brown can do, but every player without the last name James, needs to make more shots. It's that simple. Mo Williams and Donte West get looks, but are shooting poorly. And the post game is just like the Lakers, limited at best.
The Magic have been very impressive. The have the size at every position and are quicker at most. They are a hot team and it will take a LeBron like performance from someone other than LeBron, for the Magic not to advance. But they will take nothing for granted.
The Magic are doing the greatest psych job on the Cavs. They call LeBron the greatest player, saying he is unstoppable, which they haven't. But they have stop everyone else. The more that Stan Van Gundy and the Magic, talk about how unstoppable LeBron is, the more the rest of the Cavs sit back and watch.
Manchester United vs. Barcelona
Lionel Messi lead Spain's best past the English Champions, beating them 2-0 in Rome. ManU came out strong putting pressure on Barca, but the Samuel Eto'o goal at eight minutes, turned the match on it's head and Barca looked in control all game. The game was capped with Messi's header at 70 minutes from a nice cross from Xavi.
With the win, Messi should secure the Player of the Year awards. It was a good game, but United were shell shocked after the first goal.
DTP NBA Mock Draft
In the coming days, maybe a week or two, but defiantly before the draft, we will have a mock draft breaking downs the picks for the June NBA Draft.


text:
REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) — A Delaware man made a startling discovery when he hit the beach this week: a shark.
Colby Beaumont says he encountered a shark that washed ashore and made its way onto the sand on Rehoboth Beach on Friday.
He tells The News Journal of Wilmington that he tried to push the shark back into the water by prodding it with driftwood, but it was too heavy and didn't budge.
He says another person dragged the shark by the tail and got it back into the water. The shark was estimated to be 4 ½ feet-long.
Beaumont says a fisherman told him it looked like a sand tiger shark, but Delaware state scientists who reviewed photographs say they thought it looked like a smooth dogfish shark.
(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


text:
"A good Business Reputation does not spring up overnight, but grows slowly because it is rooted in the solid ground of CUSTOMER SATISFACTION!"
CUSTOM FLOORING has the most dependable installers with many years experience. The installers were carefully chosen by Stan to assure proper installations to the customer's satisfaction.
Sales & Installations
Please call at your convenience, we are sure we can assist you in any of your floor covering needs. We specialize in "CUSTOMER SERVICE".
If we don't stock it, we can order it!
Thanks Pearland
Call for a FREE ESTIMATE!
Site visits since 12-12-2005
� Custom Flooring | PEARLAND, TX | 281-485-7077
See us on Facebook - Facebook Link


text:
NBA Daily: DPOY Watch – 2/5/20
Joel Embiid's recent absences and his team's struggles have shaken up the Defensive Player of the Year race. Meanwhile, Jayson Tatum deserves praise for his evolution into an All-Defense level defender, too.
Defensive Player of the Year, it's clear by now, will be won by one of the four candidates who were earmarked as favorites for the award coming into the regular season. But as the injury bug nags and his mismatched team continue underperforming expectations, Joel Embiid is falling from the front of the pack.
Where does that leave his main competition? A clear cut above the rest of the league's defenders but fighting tooth and nail for positioning at the top of the race. Here's where Defensive Player of the Year stands as the All-Star break dawns.
Notable Defenders
Jayson Tatum – Boston Celtics
The specifics behind Tatum's breakout season have been far different than anticipated, and even betray the most common justifications for his first All-Star berth.
The Celtics' wing has indeed shouldered a heavier offensive burden than ever before, posting a career-high usage rate on par with Kemba Walker's while doing far more work as a primary ball-handler. The results are per-game stats and nightly flashes of high-level playmaking that suggest Tatum has taken a major step forward offensively – one that forecasts the imminent superstardom his staunchest believers have always seen coming.
But it's Tatum's development on the other end, though, that's loomed just as large to the Celtics far surpassing preseason expectations in 2019-20. On a team littered with engaged, quality defenders who move in perfect sync, Tatum's ability to disrupt opposing offenses away from the ball has played a major part in Boston cementing itself as a top-five defensive outfit.
He's not as versatile as Marcus Smart, as adept at staying in front of ball-handlers as Jaylen Brown, nor as sturdy as Gordon Hayward. But Tatum is a cagey, long-armed menace as a help defender, routinely garnering steals and deflections from the weak side and opportunistically jumping passing lanes in the open floor. Like Smart, his ears perk up on scram switches, ready to create a turnover.
Tatum's new sense of aggression defensively has more recently been manifested in isolation, too. Devin Booker isn't embarrassed like this very often.
Tatum tops the Celtics in net defensive rating and ranks second in the NBA in defensive real plus-minus – the type of numbers befitting a legitimate Defensive Player of the Year candidate. That's a bridge too far for a wing defender of Tatum's impactful yet limited scope.
But he's proven his worth as an integral cog for one of the league's stingiest defenses regardless and deserves All-Defense consideration because of it.
Royce O'Neale – Utah Jazz
In a vacuum, O'Neale would be an indispensable part of Utah's starting five. But Joe Ingles' season was resuscitated when he again began playing most of his minutes next to Rudy Gobert, and Quin Snyder's assertion that the Jazz's championship hopes rest with Mike Conley reaching his ceiling means he's best suited as a starter, too.
But with a tightened jumper and exuding the confidence of a player who knows he belongs, O'Neale has emerged as the league's latest three-and-D archetype – not to mention one of Utah's most important two-way pieces – despite his recent shift to the bench. At 6-foot-4 and a sturdy 226 pounds with long arms, O'Neale is his team's resident stopper, checking the opposition's most dangerous perimeter player from the likes of Damian Lillard to Kawhi Leonard.
There just aren't many defenders in basketball with O'Neale's combination of quick feet, natural strength and active hands. He's a pest in every sense of the word, with the natural physicality and dogged demeanor to play far bigger than his size. Just ask Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic, both of whom recently fell victim to O'Neale's brash, forceful defensive approach in crunch time.
O'Neale won't get any Defensive Player of the Year chatter and may not even receive any All-Defense votes. Rudy Gobert is so dominant that it's tough to separate the impact of his teammates from that of his own. But the Jazz's defensive personnel this season is objectively inferior to years past, while O'Neale has played a more crucial role in maintaining Utah's longstanding integrity on that end than any player on the roster other than Gobert.
Jazz teammates, coaches, fans and opponents know just how effective O'Neale is defensively. Here's hoping the former undrafted free agent is eventually subject to the league-wide acclaim his standout defensive chops warrant.
Rudy Gobert – Utah Jazz
Gobert is making it impossible to refrain from highlighting his defensive prowess on a bi-weekly basis.
The two-time reigning Defensive Player of the Year is best known for lording over the paint, blocking shots, affecting others and preventing more. But he made a concerted effort over the offseason to expand the limits of his defensive ability, working hard to improve his later mobility so he could stick with smalls on the perimeter when Utah is forced into switches.
Gobert's mind-bending recovery block on Dorell Wright in the clutch against the Dallas Mavericks on Jan. 25 is one of the most impressive single defensive efforts of the season. What's more amazing is that it doesn't stand far apart from similar plays he's made recently when tasked with corralling ball handlers beyond the arc.
Utah has pretty much exclusively switched Gobert onto guards this season late in close games. Its scheme still calls for him to serve as the last line of defense between the ball and the basket, but don't be surprised if Snyder veers from that time-honored plan in certain matchups come playoff time.
Over halfway through this season, though, it's clear he's better equipped than ever to step out on the floor and effectively slide his feet with ball handlers.
Defensive Player of the Year Rankings
5. Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
4. Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers
3. Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers
2. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
1. Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz
Honorable mention: Marcus Smart, Boston Celtics; Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers; Bam Adebayo, Miami HEAT; Kawhi Leonard, LA Clippers; Marc Gasol, Toronto Raptors; P.J. Tucker, Houston Rockets; Kris Dunn, Chicago Bulls; Jakob Poeltl, San Antonio Spurs
Leave a Reply
Looking Toward The Draft: Power Forwards
Basketball Insiders continues their NBA Draft watch, this time with the power forwards.
We got some updated NBA draft news this week when the league announced that several key dates have been pushed back including the draft, the start of free agency and the beginning of the 2020-21 season.
The 2020 draft was originally scheduled for Oct. 16, but it will now likely occur sometime in November. Obviously, with the COVID-19 pandemic still wildly out of control in the United States, all of these potential deadlines are fluid and subject to change.
With that said, we're continuing our position by position breakdown here at Basketball Insiders of some of the top 2020 draft prospects. We looked at the point guards and shooting guards last week, and this week we're covering the small forwards and power forwards.
The power forward crop, like the draft overall, doesn't appear to be as strong as recent years, that doesn't mean there aren't potential contributors and high-level NBA players available, as well as one who might just turn out to be a star-caliber player.
Onyeka Okongwu, USC – 19 years old
Okongwu is the player who just might develop into a star on some level. He was actually underrated in high school and was snubbed for a McDonald's All-American selection his senior year. He established himself early on at USC as the team's best player as a freshman and now appears to have turned some heads.
He's been mentioned as a lottery pick and in some mock drafts, he's top 4-5. He possesses a great all-around skill-set; he can score in the post, he can put the ball on the floor and attack and he can shoot. But perhaps his biggest attribute is his versatility on the defensive end. He's got quick feet and mobility and can guard multiple positions.
Okongwu might actually play center in the NBA, especially in small-ball lineups, but he's mostly played power forward and so he'll probably see time there in the league. His skill-set fits perfectly with today's game.
Obi Toppin, Dayton – 22 years old
Toppin is one of the older players in the draft, and in recent history, players that age tend to slip on draft boards. In Toppin's case, it looks like the reverse might actually be true. He's been projected as a lottery pick, and even going in the top 3.
He's an incredibly athletic player who thrives in the open court. He looks like he'll do well in an up-tempo offensive system that has capable playmakers who can find him in transition. He's extremely active around the rim and he can finish strong. A decent shooter too, something he'll need at the next level.
Toppin has the physical tools to be an effective defensive player, but that's where the questions marks on him have been. In the NBA, he's likely going to have to play and guard multiple positions. Whether or not he can adapt to that likely will answer the question as to what his ceiling can be.
Precious Achiuwa, Memphis – 20 years old
Achiuwa is another intriguing prospect. this writer actually got to watch him play in person while he was in high school and he was very impressive. He looked like a man among boys. He's projected to be a late lottery pick.
He has an NBA-ready body and he's got some toughness around the rim and in the paint. He was a double-double threat during his one season at Memphis and his knack for rebounding is something that should translate to the NBA. He's a very good defender too, in particular, as a rim protector. He's very quick and has the ability to guard multiple positions.
One of the main knocks on Achiuwa is his shooting ability. He didn't shoot that well in college and power forwards being able to space the floor is almost a requirement in today's NBA game. It's something he can certainly work on and improve on though.
Honorable Mentions:
Paul Reed, DePaul – 21 years old
Xavier Tillman, Michigan State – 21 years old
Killian Tillie, Gonzaga – 22 years old
Looking Toward the Draft: Small Forwards
Basketball Insiders' examination of the 2020 draft class continues with a look at the small forwards.
It was announced on Wednesday that the NBA Draft would be delayed from Oct. 16 to Nov. 18. The rationale is that the extra month gives the league and its players association more time to negotiate changes to the CBA. It also grants teams additional time to procure information on prospects and allows the NBA to establish regional virtual combines. But nothing is set in stone.
Still, draft prep must continue. This year's draft class has more question marks than usual – which was complicated by the cancellation of the NCAA tournament (along with the NIT and a number of conference tournaments). There are incredibly skilled offensive players with limited offensive upside and jaw-droppingly talented defenders with incomplete offensive packages. But if (recent) history serves as a guide, there will be a few guys who make an immediate impact – and some of them very well could be small forwards.
The small forward position is key for the modern NBA. Want proof? Survey the league and you'll find that most – if not all – contenders have an elite small forward – Milwaukee, Los Angeles (both), Boston, Miami, Toronto.
But the list of can't miss small forward prospects feels smaller than usual. Scanning the numerous legitimate mock drafts (including our own by Steve Kyler), it becomes apparent that we lack a consensus on which small forwards will be selected (and in what order) after the top 3 or 4. Can any of them grow into a star? Maybe. Maybe not. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's identify what the top few bring to the table.
Deni Avdija, Israel – 19 years old
Avdija is a relatively well-rounded prospect who's played professionally since he was 16. He boasts good height (6-foot-9) and uses it effectively to shoot over and pass around opposing defenses. Further, Avdija is an exceptional playmaker and he's incredibly confident, enabling him to take chances many players would be apprehensive trying. Avdija is a high-IQ player. And what's more, he's a surprisingly strong defender. His height and above-average athleticism allow him to block shots, and he's more physical than you'd expect him to be.
But there are drawbacks to Avdija, too. His main issue is around shooting. Avdija shot only 28% in the EuroLeague last season, and he shot only 60% from the free-throw line. Further, while he's a decent athlete, he'll struggle to secure a role in the NBA. He's going to need to add speed to stay with modern wings, and he'll also have to bulk up to bang with power forwards.
Still, Avdija's upside is alluring. He's only 19, and his smarts, confidence and grittiness should provide him cover for much of his rookie season. Avdija should be the first small forward off of the board.
Isaac Okoro, Auburn – 19 years old
Avdija might be the flashier name currently, but Okoro will give him a run for his money in terms of which small forward is first off the board. Okoro is built like a traditional NBA wing; he's 6-foot-6 with good strength packed in his muscular frame (215 lbs). Okoro finishes well around the rim and he converts well through contact. He's an exceptional athlete who excels catching the ball on the move. Like Avdija, Okoro has the poise and composure of a more experienced player. Also, like Avdija, Okoro looked the part of a high IQ player in his lone season at Auburn.
And while all that is great, the main allure of Okoro is his defense. He's a fairly advanced defender given his age, and his athleticism and timing make him an effective weak side help defender.
While Okoro's raw abilities are exquisite, his refined offensive skills leave something to be desired. Okoro shot 28 percent on three-point field goals and he struggled from the free-throw line (67.2 percent). His mid-range jump shot also needs work, and he struggles in isolation situations.
If Okoro can hone his offensive game, he could grow into an All-Star. He has the ability to guard multiple positions, and his strength and athleticism give him a leg up on most prospects. But even if he doesn't become an All-Star, he possesses a fairly high floor given his defensive abilities — and the guy definitely fills the state sheet (12.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists, .9 steals and .9 blocks). He has lockdown defender potential and he'll put his stamp on the game beginning on night one.
Devin Vassell, Florida State – 20 years old
Vassell played two seasons at Florida State, but he came into his own in his Sophomore season. He averaged 12.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.0 blocks per game. He shot a more than respectable 41.5% on three-point attempts, and he demonstrated a strong stroke from the free-throw line (73.8 percent) and on two-point field goal attempts (53.2).
Vassell is an extremely athletic leaper, who can rise up for a highlight dunk and sprint down the floor with ease. He has good body control and demonstrated a strong mid-range game, especially his step-back jump shot. But Vassell must generate more free throws through decisive moves to the hoop, which would be bolstered by a more muscular frame. Additionally, he must improve his ball-handling to get more from isolations.
Vassell will have an adjustment period in terms of scoring the ball at the next level. Fortunately, his defense and shooting should get him by. If he can bulk up and improve his handling, Vassell could grow into a serious player.
Aaron Nesmith, Vanderbilt – 20 years old
Nesmith probably has a lower floor than any of the other top small forward prospects given that he'll be 21 by the draft. Still, he looked quite good in his Junior year, averaging 23 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game on a scorching 52.2 percent shooting from deep. Nesmith is an incredibly gifted shooter who has impressive range. His ability to catch-and-shoot and create space with fakes makes him a promising prospect – for the right team.
Nesmith is a high IQ player who uses his smarts on the defensive end. He's also quite strong, can get buckets in the open floor and demonstrates above average ball-handling skills, as long as he's not taking the ball to the hoop.
But there are inherent limitations in Nesmith's game. He's doesn't create for his teammates too effectively and he turns the ball over more frequently than one would like with. Further, Nesmith is plagued by robotic movements that limit his athleticism. His ball-handling breaks down when taking the ball to the rack – something he'll certainly have to work on in the NBA if he wants to be a versatile scoring threat against the bigger and stronger competition.
Still, Nesmith's positives give him an excellent chance at being selected in the first round. His range alone will intrigue teams in need of a shooter.
Honorable Mentions:
Saddiq Bey, Villanova – 21 years old
Jaden McDaniels, Washington – 19 years old
Robert Woodard II, Mississippi State – 20 years old
With the uncertainty around small forward prospects, expect to see a revolving door of names enter the discussion after the first four wing prospects are off the board prior to Nov. 16 – assuming the draft is held then. But regardless of how you have them ranked, all of the aforementioned prospects have question marks. But all have had far more time to improve than they would have in years' past. Let's hope that shows come next season.
NBA Daily: Opposite Plotlines for Today's Matchups
With the two matchups going on today, Matt John examines the two teams who could be in the most trouble because of one of their individual stars for opposite reasons.
The second round of the NBA playoffs was hyped up to be one of the most entertaining we've had in years. So far, they haven't fallen short of expectations. We knew that Houston and Los Angeles' battle of opposite philosophies would make for some twists and turns. We knew that Boston and Toronto would duke it out in an Atlantic Division showdown. We knew that Miami would push Milwaukee to new heights. We didn't really know if the Nuggets would give the Clippers a good series, but the fact that they have so far has made an intense postseason all the more gripping.
Anyway, today we're getting two games from two series in completely opposite places. The Lakers and the Rockets will face off for the series lead, while the HEAT will try to finish off the Bucks once and for all. Below, we're going to focus on two teams who have an individual star that either may be more flawed than we thought or one that may not be as flawed as we thought.
Bucks vs. HEAT: Giannis is great and all, but…
We all pretty much knew this was going to be a good series. We did not expect this.
The buzz surrounding Bucks v. HEAT was that Miami was going to make Milwaukee earn every win they got in this series. If that was the plan, then Miami has failed miserably, because until Khris Middleton went supernova on them on Sunday, Milwaukee had come up terribly short.
Let's first give Miami the credit that they are due and more. With Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler alone, Miami was going to be a tough matchup for Milwaukee – but to see the Bucks all but roll over in this series is an unpleasant sight. Acquiring Jae Crowder and Andre Iguodala has paid huge dividends and it's showing. There are other factors involved, but Miami's defensive efforts have limited Giannis to 21.8 points a game and that's played a role in the HEAT being in the driver's seat of this series.
Speaking of Giannis Antetokounmpo, this series has not been a good look for the Defensive Player of the Year. Especially since it looks like his second consecutive MVP (presumably) is right around the corner. So, to see both him and Milwaukee, once an unstoppable force without an immovable object in sight, get stopped by a sturdy but not immovable squad is saddening.
Nearly a year ago, Basketball Insiders compared these current Bucks to the Dwight Howard-led Orlando Magic from the late-2000's/early 2010's. To oversimplify things, both were contenders led by a superstar with a rare physique that made them tough to stop. To put the superstar in the best position, they surrounded them with playmakers and three-point shooters.
While the teams' roster constructions weren't exactly the same, their strengths as a team certainly were. Now we're seeing the Bucks' flaws just as we did the Magic 10 years ago. If you have the personnel to make the lone superstar uncomfortable, the team doesn't function as well.
Giannis is near impossible to stop, but the one major flaw is that if you take away his ability to drive and force him into a jumper, he loses his rhythm. Even if his shot is on – never a guarantee – his opponents will let him beat them that way until he makes them pay. Hardly any team can pick on this, but the HEAT are one of them, and now they're one win away from their first Eastern Conference Finals since LeBron James took his talents out of South Beach.
This ultimately is what puts Antetokounmpo below the likes of LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard for now. Those guys are rare physical specimens like him, but their elite games don't revolve entirely around their natural gifts as he does or Dwight did. At 25 years old, there's plenty of time for him to change that and, for all we know, he will, but to see him struggle at a time when the conference was supposed to run through him has ignited tons of questions.
Milwaukee's technically not out yet, but they've shown their mortality against Miami. If this really is it for them, then they've got to find a quick fix for this problem because if they don't, then the unspeakable may happen.
Lakers vs. Rockets: Westbrook has been bad and all but…
Shaking off the rust and recovering from a balky knee would be tough for anyone. For Russell Westbrook, it's killing his productivity and, in turn, the Rockets' playoff chances. He's averaging 15.6 points on 39/16/47 splits with a most recent 10-point, 4-of-15 effort from the field which included seven turnovers and air balling wide-open threes sticking out like a sore thumb.
It also doesn't help that he's playing the Lakers of all teams. When Westbrook has been in, the Lakers have taken advantage of his shortcomings offensively and it shows both on the court and the stat line.
Most of Westbrook's damage is hurting Houston on the offensive end. With the All-Star guard in the game, Houston is minus-13.7 with him on the court, the worst offensive rating on the team. The 12 turnovers he's coughed up in this series probably have something to do with that.
With Westbrook's struggles and his predecessor Chris Paul coming off of his best individual season since 2016, this, of course, has led to many second-guessing the swap last summer. Or let's rephrase that: People have been second-guessing that trade since the moment it was announced and, in light of recent events, they're piling on now more than ever.
Maybe they're right. Even after playing in the NBA for over a decade now, Westbrook still hasn't proven that he can control himself enough to reach his potential as a team player. We've seen glimpses. On the other hand, Paul showed that he can still pick apart defenses while holding his own on that end.
But replacing Paul with Westbrook was Harden's idea. He didn't want to play with Paul anymore and chose to play with one of his closest friends. You may think that the better fit is what's best for the team, but we've seen the damage that can happen when your team's best players have friction with one another. It hurt Utah this season. It hurt Boston last season. It destroyed the Lakers back in 2013. There's no telling what it could have done to Houston this season.
Besides, we know that as bad as Westbrook has been, he's capable of being better. Not a knockdown shooter, not even an efficient scorer, but he has done better in the past when the focus was on him. The more days he takes to shake off the rust from his knee, the more optimistic the Rockets ought to be.
The Rockets have to take the glass-half-full on this one because they don't really have a choice otherwise.


text: T-shirt by Nicce London, Soft-touch cotton, Crew neck, Chest print, Long sleeves with camo logo, Fixed cuffs, Regular fit – true to size, Machine wash, 100% Cotton, Our model wears a size Medium and is 192cm/6'3.5 tall. Clean, contemporary design is at the forefront of Nicce London's vision. Founded in 2013 and inspired by London�s ever-changing music scene, the British label applies its contemporary cuts to a functional line of streetwear. Branded sweats and jackets sit alongside a range of printed T-shirts, with some styles exclusive to ASOS.


text:
The 100 Moments of TSU Athletics presented by Taco Bell® series continues by paying tribute to one of the most recognizable landmarks on Tennessee State's campus.
On Saturday, the TSU Tigers will return to Hale Stadium for the first time since 1998. While playing at LP Filed has been kind to Big Blue these past 13 years, the team will once again be able to hold games on its home campus.
Hale Stadium- affectionately dubbed "The Hole"- has been the true dwelling for Tennessee State football since 1953. Teams coached by the likes of John A. Merritt and Howard Gentry have won 10 championships while playing down in the Hole, and the stadium has been waiting to welcome the Tigers back.
The last time the Tigers stormed the field at Hale Stadium, the team defeated rival Texas Southern 28-14 en route to a 9-3 season and an OVC Championship.
Over the years, games at Hale stadium have been the ultimate in home-field advantage thanks to the intimidating and passionate fans that support Big Blue each hot and humid Saturday. The Hole's confines were only meant to hold 15,000 fans, yet that number has never stopped the TSU faithful from coming out in droves. There have been 20 times when the Hole has exceeded capacity including a game against UT Martin in 1998 where 22,046 showed up to watch the Tigers ground the Sky Hawks 76-0.
The team has rewarded its loyal fans with an all-time 134-27-5 record in games played at the Hole.
The Hole has also housed many legendary players - players such as Joe "747" Adams, Tyrone Butterfield, Richard Dent, Ed "Too Tall" Jones and Rod Reed. The stadium still stands as a monument to those great players, but nothing is stopping the current crop of Tigers from carving their names into the record books as well.
With the much-needed upgrades and additions, the monument has been transformed back into a competitive arena. Rest assured that is exactly the appearance that William J. Hale would have wanted from the site that bears his name. The Hole is no longer a reminder for what once was; after 13 long years it is once again a source of excitement and pride for Big Blue.
To accommodate the momentous occasion, the university will be rolling in more bleachers for every home contest. However, don't expect them to contain Tiger fans. If history has taught us anything it is that fans will come out in record numbers and that the Tigers will have patrons constantly jumping out of their seats.
This season Tennessee State will finally welcome three more opponents into the Hole as a part of the school's centennial celebration. If fans support the team like they used to and the Tigers play like they are accustomed, then those three games may be the first of many more to come.
The 100 Moments of TSU Athletics presented by Taco Bell® highlights some of the greatest moments in honor of Tennessee State's centennial celebration. A new moment will be released each weekday for a total of 100. These moments were chosen by the TSU 100 Moments committee, which consists of alums from various departments. TSU has so many great moments, not all can be represented in these 100.
Sports Information Assistant Alex Mitchell contributed to this article.
Follow TSU Athletics on Facebook.com/TSUTigers and Twitter @TSU_Tigers.


text:
Someone reached my blog by searching:
issues that minorities face in the floydada tx community
Honey, that'd be a whole blog and/or dissertation in and of itself. Sorry I can't help you more.
"Africa is, indeed, coming into fashion." - Horace Walpole (1774)
Someone reached my blog by searching:
Here's a beautiful essay on teaching poetry at West Point.
I feel a little sick.
Well, that didn't go so well.
Sigh. I've known that our team was overrated from the first quarter of the first game. But it was still pretty painful to watch our uneven-but-improving defense that seems to have some issues with actually reaching out and tackling the guys they're chasing, Colt's neverending interceptions, and the totally inexcusable inability of our special teams to prevent kickoff returns.
Here's what I think: if it was abundantly clear that Colt McCoy was sick at halftime, they shouldn't have put him back in. It was obvious by late in the 3rd that he wasn't himself. John Chiles is more than capable of doing the job - he gets us 5 yards every time on the keeper, and if McCoy can't get it together, his job should be in danger. That's just how it is. No, Chiles isn't experienced enough to do everything (yet), but this business about McCoy being better isn't playing out on the field. And if he's sick, DON'T PUT HIM OUT THERE. Duh!
Also, we should fire Greg Davis. And beg Gene Chizik to come back. There, I said it.
At least we weren't the only ones who had a bad day. We hate Auburn. But not as much as we hate Florida. Urban Meyer's last-minute sneaky time-out calling reflects the kind of class we expect from Gainesville. And ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! "#3" Oklahoma lost.
Actually, except for the football, it wasn't a bad day. We had a fantastic tailgate brunch (note: do NOT try to cook bacon directly on the grill. Lots of fire, too much for our resident pyromaniac. We moved it to the camp stove and things were much better.), Of course, we love admiring our neighbors' unique fashion choices:Vince and some of the old guard were around: And it was Alumni Band Day! For those of you Not From Austin, Alumni Band Day is hands-down the best show of the year, primarily because of the older gentleman baton twirler. He tosses it to the level of the upper deck, and the entire student section waits with baited breath to see if he'll catch or drop it. It's the highlight of our halftime year.
At halftime it rained, and as the third quarter got underway, it rained hard. Rather than bolt for cover (as did most of the crowd in the expensive seats on the alumni side), we stuck through it and got soaked, but it didn't matter. Laughing and smiling and dripping wet, I just couldn't help but think about how great it is to be young and alive.
The ensuing half of football did a lot to dampen that spirit, even as the sun peeked back through the clouds. We watched the fourth quarter mostly in silence, stayed through the final cannon and two rounds of "Texas Fight" and one of "The Eyes of Texas" and left just as the sky broke open again. This time we laughed some more and (at 23's insistence), stopped to take a picture in the rain, sorry about the sorry state of our football team, but glad to be friends and to be alive.
Maybe we won't drop out of the top 25. I mean, really, Colorado is worse than K-State, so it's worse for the Sooners to lose to CU than for us to lose to the Wildcats. Right? Right?
Via my sister. Welcome to my world:
Suzii is on the front page of the Wall Street Journal today. She's such a rock star.
I don't know who Don Carson is. Apparently some seminary professor at one of those Reformed schools Up North. But, for the past few months, someone has been writing an absolutely hilarious blog that pretends to be written from Carson's point-of-view. And it's a scream. So much of a scream, in fact, that the authors decided to quit because of the controversy/threats from the seminary's administration.
What a great way to start off your Tuesday morning.
Oh, good lord.
This is hi-larious.
The Intrepid Lobbyist (who, while still quite Intrepid, is no longer a Lobbyist, and is therefore in need of a new nickname - ideas?) and I were talking a few weeks ago about her new life in Seattle when camp came up in the conversation, as it always does, and somewhere in the memories, one of us brought up the maxim by which generations of campers and staff before us were admonished upon departure to some out-of-camp activity, be it a trip to the boys camp on the other side of I-40 (What can I say? We're Baptist. By the time you're 16, you know how to get across without getting caught.) or a hike to the ice cream parlor down the mountain:
"I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Today we begin a new, occasional series of humorous (and typically wrong) things my students write in response to quiz and exam questions. These are priceless:
I love my job.
Okay. Other than the near-total lack of political freedom, free expression, and free press, sure. Why not?
We almost missed National Punctuation Day. Aack!
...And here's what we think so far:
This is why I rarely sit around watching TV anymore.
[n.b. We are not watching much Monday Night Football tonight because we don't know for whom to cheer.]
You've probably already seen this totally appalling video elsewhere today. What I'm most amused by is Mike Huckabee's attempt to keep a straight, neutral face in the background of the soloist. Also, the dynamics of race in the choir vis-a-vis the candidates (and their voting records on civil rights issues) would make an interesting dissertation.
So of course the boys gave me have this week to plan the tailgate...
Don't miss this year's benefit for the Political Asylum Project of Austin, next Sunday night at Jovita's. The Attorney is a board member of this wonderful local nonprofit that provides legal services to immigrants and persons seeking political asylum who live in our area. Here's what he has to say about this always-fun, very dancable event:
This gives new meaning to the phrase "kiss of death."
At the moment I am learning that Travelocity has the worst hold noise ever. You have to listen to these horrible conversations between two overly perky adults about travel dilemmas, and trying to change your flight information.
A couple of weeks ago I attended the inaugural dinner and discussion of the Texas Baptist Young Professional Network. TBYPN is an initiative of the BGCT's Christian Life Commission, and the evening was a great time of meeting other young Baptists in the central Texas area to talk about how we might collaborate with one another and with other Baptists to support the agenda of the New Baptist Covenant. Part of that means that we will be sending a delegation to the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant in Atlanta in January. Big Daddy Weave has more on that here.
So I totally failed to post yesterday.
I hate contemporary Christian music.
Luminous is the only word to describe Regina Spektor's Monday night taping of Austin City Limits. Don't miss this one when it airs later this year.
Sunday afternoon as the sun went down over the ACL Festival, the Ex-Roommate and I (who are realizing that we have been friends for (gulp!) twelve years) pushed our way up to the front of the AMD stage, sat down with everyone else who was trying to sit for an hour, and got ready to enjoy Wilco's set.
Also, the marriage proposal, though cheesy, was kindof sweet.
Don't tick off Lucinda Williams. She will write a song like "Honey Bee" about you. And she will have her revenge. Regina Spektor. Right. We were more concerned with securing our awesome Wilco spot, and as the crowd pressed in, our ability to hear Spektor diminished proportionally. But I'll see her tonight, so no worries.
Wilco was so fantastic I'm going to write a separate review later today. They played "Casino Queen!"
We only saw a little bit of Ghostland Observatory, but they continue to grow on me. You can't not dance to it.
Bob Dylan was just so bad I can't believe it.
Look, I've never seen him before, and I think he's a genius. The music, despite his gravely voice early in the set, was good. Starting with "Rainy Day Woman #12 and #35" is a sign that he knew his audience. But there is NO EXCUSE for playing to 65,000 people and not allowing cameras close enough to get your face, or closeups of the soloists. Because no one could see his face (jokes abounded in our section as to whether it was him, or whether he's been dead for years and we were being put on), Dylan never connected with the crowd. It was seriously disappointing.
Wilco's show was fantastic. Dylan's was terrible. I have to lecture in the morning. More tomorrow...
"Today, we are in a relatively calm situation, as there is a suspension of hostilities between the two parties, the dissidents and the FARDC. One has the impression of being in the eye of the storm, which is to say we are in a calm period, but we don't know what what will happen next.
By the numbers:
"'The entire world is preoccupied with Darfur, understandably,' Lewis said. 'But it must be said that between ten and twenty times of the number of people have died in the eastern Congo as have died in Darfur. There are more displaced persons in the eastern Congo than in Darfur. Darfur has been going on for four years, the eastern Congo has been ravaged for ten. And nowhere on this planet is there such a holocaust of horror visited on women and girls.'"
...because we:
It's always the women who shoulder the burden of flight in the eastern Congo. Look closely at this woman. She's carrying a mattress, a jerry can for water, blankets, and a baby. She's also most certainly carrying her cooking pot and anything else of value that her family has. Her clothes are clean and her baby has shoes. She's not so thin and emaciated that she is completely malnourished, which means that her children are probably not malnourished either, since mothers usually let their children eat first. Her life is not easy, and she shouldn't have to live this way, but until this, she was probably doing okay.
We here at Texas in Africa have very little patience for two things:
Because we feel this way, whenever we have negative customer service experiences in either respect, we choose to post the numbers we had to search for in hopes that others won't have to waste precious minutes of their lives vainly searching for what should be readily available informatoin. Companies should understand that frustrated customers don't want to wait for an email reply that will never come - they want to talk to a human being. Who can fix problems. Immediately. Posting your phone number may not be as cost-effective as routing it all through email, but it's certainly better than annoying customers so much that they become former customers.
Here are customer service phone numbers I've had to seek out for two companies this week. I recommend the first and strongly discourage you from patronizing the second:
Zazzle was very responsive; apparently my original email didn't get through, but they dealt with the problem immediately. And to be fair, my actual customer service experience with Symantec wasn't bad this time. The employees I talked to were responsive and helpful. I didn't have to wait on the phone for nearly 3 hours as was the case in January. I'm just furious with the company for what caused the problem in the first place.
Today I got to meet one of my favorite Texas writers.
My sister (who is now the nanny for Roseanne's spiritual advisor. It's a long story.) reminds me that today is the 4th anniversary of Johnny Cash's passing. In memory of a great man, here's my favorite version of one of my favorite songs of all time. It's a beautiful duet:
Matt Darling passes this gem along. I am in tears.
E wrote today with this news and requests for prayer from Goma. Things are really bad in the internally displaced persons camps.
Today I learned that the most statistically normal town in America is ....
Well, in the level of preparation I have come to expect from the Austin City Limits Music Festival, last night when I pulled up to the Zilker box office to trade in my ticket for a wristband, I was greeted in my car by a smiling woman who simply proclaimed, "We're out."
Student: Did you see R. Kelly's song [about Senator Larry Craig] on Jon Stewart?
Six years.
"Ninja return ends in Congo chaos"
Calm is the morn without a sound,
This is what we're all really afraid of.
"How can evil ever prevail when there is such courage in the world?" - A Wrinkle in Time
You know, when it comes to weekends in September, I'm a pretty simple girl. All I want to do is hang out with friends on Friday night, sleep until 10:45 on Saturday morning, watch Herbstreit's picks on Game Day Live, and watch twelve hours of football (on tv, at our tailgate, and at DKR). Nothing complicated.
A heads-up for Austin-area/central Texas friends and readers: I'll be speaking about my experiences and the situation in the Eastern DR Congo on Wednesday, September 19 at 6pm at First Baptist, Austin. I'll focus on explainng the situation there and suggest practical ways we can help support community-based ministries and development in the eastern Congo.
This is priceless:
'Cause, you know, the world's been needing some of these.
I am trying to imagine what these plains west of Goma look like right now. I'm trying to envision them when they are not empty and green, but rather occupied by tens of thousands of people just like you and me who have done what any of us would do if war broke out in our town: they've run from their homes carrying everything that is precious to their families. I'm trying to conceive of what the presence of so many people does to a landscape. I'm trying to think what thousands of little grass huts like these must look like.
And I'm wondering what this is doing to my friends, both Congolese and expat. My aid worker friends are no doubt living under a lot of stress. It's hard to be the person in charge of distributing food to 20,000 people who have nothing. I haven't heard from many of my Congolese friends lately. No doubt most people aren't venturing out unless it's necessary. Tasks like visiting the internet cafe tend to be less important than ensuring the security of one's family.
My phone rang at 4:18am today. It was a text message from Mama Rene in Bukavu. She wanted to know why I have been silent. In the eastern Congo, one is expected to keep up with one's friends on a more-or-less weekly basis. You need to inquire about their health, safety, and family. Apparently, I'd been too long in writing.
I could say I can't imagine what things are like in the eastern Congo right now, but that's not true. My friends there have lived these horrors and told me all about their experiences in the war. I've seen drunken soldiers roaming the streets, looking for someone to harass. I've seen weapons in the hands of child soldiers. It's terrifying. And all we can do from here is watch, and hope, and pray that this too shall be made right.
Well, the fight is getting closer and closer to Goma, and the United Nations has finally said what everyone in the region has known for years: the government of Rwanda is supplying rebel general Laurent Nkunda with equipment and manpower.
From Radio Okapi:
Given my new employment status at UT, I just had to complete four somewhat ridiculous complicance training modules, one of which was entirely dedicated to explaining what compliance training is. Never underestimate a bureaucracy.
This is from a friend in Goma. I've taken out some of what he wrote for security and streamlining. They ask for prayer for peace, and to spread this news:
North Kivu is descending into war. This is more than the usual low-level violence.
Welcome readers from The Secret Life of Kat. Here's a link to the original post on Olivier.
Amen to this!
I'd love for you all to go listen to Fred's recording of Sunday morning worship in a Congolese church. This is exactly what it's like.
Gunshots are reported in Goma last night; apparently rebels tried to take out some of the communication towers on Mount Goma. They have also cut off electricity and communications in Rutshuru.
Ah, the first Saturday in September. It's my favorite day of the year - waking up to the picks on GameDay Live, tailgating for several hours before kickoff, and figuring out where our seats are this year before taking in a game. Oh, yeah, and watching teams like Michigan get what they deserve!
We left after the game ended to watch the end of Tennessee-Cal (sorry I jinxed it, Emily) and Auburn-K-State (sigh). All in all it was a great day of football, even if the best plays didn't come from the Horns. It's September, and therefore we're happy.
*The last photo credit goes to 23, who wasn't happy with the Tower-at-sunset pictures I took. Hope he's happy.


text:
The Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 12 recap
We're hitting the final five episodes of The Walking Dead and I have decided these sixteen-episode seasons are too long. If the show was more consistent we wouldn't notice the drag but it's not and so we do. Even though season three started off strong, it, too, has fallen victim to the doldrums. Also, another showrunner (this time Glen Mazzara) was canned during production, so we're dealing with another Time of Troubles behind the scenes that is bleeding into the show's final product. I never thought I would say this but The Walking Dead is kind of a chore to watch.
So this episode is the one I'm dubbing "gun running" since the entire point is for Rick to better arm the group against the Governor. They need more weapons because Rick keeps running off all the people that could help them in the fight.
And this is why I can't write this show off. The establishing shot is of a sign put up near the road: Erin, we tried for Stone Mountain. J. I don't mind not seeing other people outside Rick & Co. and whoever they're currently fighting, but those touches that remind us that the whole world has gone to sh*t are great. The production values have, at least, never abated.
Rick, Carl and Michonne in a car must be the single most uncommunicative group ever.
They blow past a hitchhiker. See? There's one more body between them and the Governor. What? I'm not saying they need to be friends with all these people, I'm saying they need numbers for the fight.
Carl attempting to act = pressing his lips together firmly.
Car wreck, with zombie pinned under truck. These are the images I live for. Michonne stops the car and they get stuck, naturally, and are instantly set upon by zombies.
One zombie has a bracelet. Erin.
Rick seems to be calm again. At least, he's dealing with Carl's sass-mouthing without flipping his sh*t.
They are determined to completely f*ck over this hitchhiker. They keep ditching him. It would be kind of funny if he followed them and they kept being like, "Get away, you maggot."
Speaking of funny, SNL tackled The Walking Dead in a sketch last weekend about the characters preferring to deal with a zombie than be seen as racist. It worked fairly well but the better punchline would be the characters totally ignoring the black character, who is also not allowed to speak, because that's pretty much how the show goes.
So are they going in circles? Because they're back at Rick's old police station.
I'm too far removed from season one to associate the pile of burned bodies with whoever they were supposed to be.
More excellent production design—background graffit: No Guilt. You know that.
So the town has a defensive line set up that is scary as sh*t. And there's a sniper in a helmet on the roof. They want Rick's gun and Michonne's sword, which obviously they're not getting. Fight ensues. This is one thing season 3 is doing right in spades, showing how fractured society has become, how far gone everyone is.
Carl shoots some dude in his first (attempted) regular murder, but the guy had on body armor.
I wondered what happened to him, if we were all going to act like Rick never made a friend in season 1.
Rick's reaction to how far gone Morgan is calls back to Andrea's reaction to Rick.
Morgan has some Indiana Jones-level booby traps set up. It's like the world's worst game of Mouse Trap.
Morgan's son, Duane, is MIA and he has crazy stuff written all over the walls. So Morgan's lost it. Also, no matter how they feel about him, they're totally stealing all his weapons.
Written on the walls: Duane turned.
Rick wants to wait for Morgan to wake up. No one else does.
Morgan drew a map of the town and Rick's old house is gone. Carl has no reaction to this because he is either a robot or a terrible actor, depending on your perspective.
Michonne goes with Carl to find a crib and Carl ditches her, because he's a moron.
Morgan wakes up and pulls a knife because he's psycho. And he stabs Rick, because Rick's life cannot get any worse.
So Morgan and Duane actually did try to follow Rick with the radio but they eventually lost him. And Morgan's pissed because he thinks Rick has gotten off easy or something. Of course, Morgan's zombie wife ate Duane, so maybe Rick has gotten off easy, comparatively.
Morgan's a crazy assh*le now.
What is in this café that Carl wants so bad? A photo of his family for Judith.
Of course they get set upon by a zombie horde, because all of Carl's ideas SUCK.
Finally, someone calls out Carl's bullsh*t running-off ways. He's such a bullsh*t runner-offer, there's even a tee shirt.
Okay, Michonne going back for the photo and also returning with an ugly cat statue for herself is kind of fantastic. Except that it takes her approximately three seconds to go back in the zombie-infested diner and come back out, which makes no sense.
Rick tries to recruit Morgan but Morgan reads the intent of taking all those guns and is like, "No thanks." So Rick leaves him. Will we see Morgan ever again?
Hopefully Morgan being so f*cking nuts is a sign to Rick to stop being crazy himself.
Michonne bonds with Rick over seeing things, because she used to talk to her dead boyfriend. So she's part of the group now, I guess. Hopefully this translates to more dialogue for her. She's way better than, say, Andrea.
Oh, so the pile of burned bodies is Morgan's doing, his "clearing". Got it.
Man, they really hated that hitchhiker.
Status Check:
Rick – Still a way better person than the zombie apocalypse deserves.
Michonne – Loves ugly cat sculptures.
Carl – Refuses to stay put, will get everyone killed.
Morgan – Bugf*ck crazy.
Andrea – Mercifully absent.
Worst thing seen/heard this episode: Basically, every sh*tty thing that has happened to Morgan.
Zombie kill of the week: Michonne to the head with the katana.
Attached -- The Walking Dead cast at Paleyfest this weekend. (Lainey: What are those pants on Laurie Holden?!?)


text:
Commercial, Products
By —By Andrew Drwiega | April 1, 2014
Send Feedback
Erickson Air-Crane is now Erickson Incorporated, but has several divisions, announced Udo Rieder, the organization's chief executive at a media briefing related to Heli-Expo. Following the acquisitions last year of Evergreen Helicopters and Air Amazonia, the company's share price rose from $8 to $21 per share (a 163 percent growth). The group now comprises: Erickson Air Crane; Erickson Helicopters; Erickson Transport; Air Amazonia; Canadian Air Crane; European Air Crane; and Malaysian Air Crane.
"We were giving a lot of the market to light and medium helicopters as well as fixed-wing aircraft," said Rieder, explaining the need to grow the organization. As a consequence Erickson's fleet has expanded from 20 air-cranes to 90 diversified aircraft. Most of the divisions will fly a mix of aircraft.
"Prior to the acquisitions, over 50 percent of our revenues came from firefighting… and 95 percent of Evergreen's revenue came from Department of Defense (DoD) work. Air Amazonia had 100 percent revenue from oil and gas, revealed Rieder.
Now, he said, the company had doubled its financial size from $200 million to $400 million in revenues. The total business today comprises around 30 percent DoD, firefighting/oil and gas around 25 percent each, with the remainder coming from commercial activities (including logging). He said the diversity meant that the company could better withstand up and down cycles in any particular sector.
The MRO side has also been strengthened, added Rieder. "We know how to maintain and manufacture legacy components. We are now the largest Bell 214ST operator and there is no reason why we shouldn't be the largest provider of third-party maintenance for the Bell 214ST." The new logo represents the new composite rotor blade system developed for the S-64. "It's a multi-million dollar investment and we will start flying by the end of the year. It will give 10-15 percent improvement in lift capability and a decrease in MRO and manufacturing costs, and a 3-5 percent decrease in fuel burn," confirmed Rieder.
Erickson is the type certificate holder not only for the S-64 but also has bought the type certificate for the Pratt & Whitney T73 engine used on the Air Crane and the intention is to have its engineers improve engine performance.
Rieder said that there were opportunities in the oil and gas sector "within Peru, Ecuador and domestically in Alaska."
The European Air-Crane division supports four S-64s that are owned by the Italian government, but there are opportunities for expansion, according to Rieder. He said that aircraft operated in Africa and the Middle East could now go to Europe for their repair and overhaul. He also said that there were work opportunities in Switzerland as well as the more traditional firefighting markets of Spain and southern France.